Update 3/2/13: According to CBS News, there was dog fighting equipment found inside of the burned structure. A tenant by the name of Anthony Reddick has been arrested and charged with 18 counts of felony dog fighting.

According to Saturday's ABC 7 News, a dozen pit bulls are dead following a devastating garage fire in Freeport, N.Y.

According to Newsday, Fernando Cruz, who co-owns the property and resides in Texas, stated that he believed that the house was vacant and claimed to known nothing about the dogs who died inside of the garage.

Cruz's statement is contrary to what is reported in the ABC 7 News publication which reported that there are four tenants who lived at the home. One of those tenants denied that there was any type of dog fighting happening at the property.

The man who is believed to be the owner of the dogs disappeared shortly after the fire and he has not been seen since.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the deadly blaze started and they are also looking into the reason for the large number of dogs who were being kept there.

Firefighters are uncertain if the dogs who were trapped in the garage had been roaming free, or if they were in cages; two pit bulls managed to survive and they were removed from the property.

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